Volume 3, Chapter 6-1 – Franleya Belphegor

Passing through the mirror felt like breaking through a layer of cool water.

The mercury-like glow closed behind her, and Stella’s little leather shoes stepped onto a soft, thick, deep-purple shag carpet.

The mirror’s teleportation was almost instantaneous.

There was no dizziness, nor any sense of weightlessness. It was just like stepping across an ordinary threshold.

“We’re at Nightmare Street?” Stella murmured to herself.

The bedroom she stood in was exceedingly luxurious.

An obsidian-carved chandelier hung from the domed ceiling. Dim light cast a faint, decadent sheen over the dark-red brocade wall coverings. Expensive incense permeated the room as well, mingling the scents of Abyssal water lilies and agarwood and inducing a heavy drowsiness.

The broad floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the busiest district of Nightmare Street.

Outside was eternal night, yet the streets were brightly lit. At the farthest edge of her vision, she could vaguely make out the silhouette of Lilith School.

Nightmare Street.

Remedios hadn’t screwed her over.

The mirror really was a stable and precise teleportation passage.

Her current location was clearly one of Cloudtop Manor’s high-end guest rooms.

Stella undid her robe and draped it over the back of a chair beside the round rosewood table.

Next came putting the plan into action.

Stella unfolded the dynamic map.

Ink swiftly raced across the parchment, stretching and intertwining.

Within a few seconds, it had outlined Nightmare Street’s labyrinthine buildings and street layout, while black dots of various sizes slowly moved among the ink lines.

Stella’s plan was very straightforward.

Use the map’s real-time positioning to locate Cheryl’s ink dot on the streets of Nightmare Street as quickly as possible.

Then keep a constant eye on Aetlana’s movements, avoid the old dragon, find Cheryl, grab her, retrace her steps, and dive back through the mirror.

As simple as a game of hide-and-seek.

As long as she was careful, that dragon-type demon would never discover her.

Perfect.

Stella silently gave herself a thumbs-up.

She was just about to put away the map and set off when the corner of her eye caught something strange on it. Inside the box labeled Cloudtop Manor, Night King Suite, where the ink dot representing her was located, several stationary black dots were clustered together right beside her name, pressed close to the suite’s entrance.

【Franleya Belphegor】

【Belphegor Nightmare Maintainer A】

【Belphegor Nightmare Maintainer B】

【Belphegor Nightmare Maintainer C】

【Belphegor Nightmare Maintainer D】

Stella blinked.

She looked at the names above, then at her own position.

“…”

There were people standing outside the door?

And there were… one young lady and four guards?

What were they doing there?

Wasn’t this the room Remedios had booked?

Faint conversation drifted through the heavy carved wooden door.

Stella instinctively held her breath and pricked up her ears.

“…Young Miss, the Night King Suite has already been prepared for you,” a deep, respectful voice said. “You’ve had a long journey. Please rest at Cloudtop Manor for now. It just so happens that our finest suite has already been prepared.”

“Mm.”

The girl being addressed as Young Miss responded.

Her voice truly was pleasant, airy and clear, with a faint touch of languor.

Then came the sound of footsteps approaching the door.

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“If the question of who holds proxy authority over the throne hadn’t remained unsettled, and Mother hadn’t insisted on dragging me here to discuss something about restarting the Abyss Supremacy Tournament, I wouldn’t even have wanted to leave the house.”

“What a boring game, all that fighting and killing.”

“A daughter of an Elector must show her face, she says. Belphegor cannot be absent at a time like this, she says…”

The footsteps stopped outside the door.

“Young Miss,” the guard said with a trace of helplessness, “you should say things like that less often. If an outsider happens to hear you, we’ll have to…”

“Have to what?”

“Clean house.”

There were two seconds of silence.

Then came a soft laugh.

“Alright, alright, I know. You can stand guard outside. I’m going in to rest for a while.”

Stella stood in the middle of the room. If she listened closely enough, she almost felt as though she could hear her own brain running at maximum speed.

‘Abyss Supremacy Tournament?’

‘Proxy authority over the throne?’

‘An Elector’s daughter?’

‘Wait.’

‘Wait, wait, wait.’

She looked at the name on the map, 【Franleya Belphegor】.

“…”

She was the young lady of the Belphegor family?

The Sleeping Beauty Remedios had mentioned?

Why was she here?

Wasn’t this the room Remedios had booked?

Stella suddenly remembered what the guard had just said.

It just so happens that our finest suite has already been prepared.

Prepared?

Prepared for whom?

For the Young Miss?

Then what did that make Stella right now?

An illegal intruder?

A succession of images flashed through Stella’s mind.

Would she be mistaken for an assassin and executed on the spot?

At the very least, the Belphegor family might blacklist her. And if Gehenna found out that she had defied the prohibition and caused this sort of trouble…

Click.

Stella heard the brass doorknob turn downward.

She instinctively wanted to dive back through the mirror, but the ripples on its surface had already vanished. It seemed there was an interval between uses of the mirror’s teleportation, something Remedios had completely failed to mention.

Stella froze on the spot.

There was no longer any time to think. Her body reacted before her brain could.

Under the bed.

Get in there, now!

The black velvet bed skirt naturally fell back into place behind her.

Very soon, Stella saw the ink dot representing 【Franleya Belphegor】 cross the threshold and stop in the middle of the room.

The other four ink dots remained outside.

“You may leave. I’m going to sleep.”

“Without my orders, no one is allowed to come in. And don’t stand guard outside the door either. I hate having people outside.”

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“Yes. We’ll wait for you down the corridor.”

The door closed once more.

The sound of the lock engaging was exceptionally clear in the silent suite.

Stella’s field of vision was restricted to the narrow gap beneath the bed skirt.

A pair of fair, bare feet entered her view.

A thin silver chain was tied around one ankle, with a tiny sleep-soothing bell hanging from it. Yet there was no clapper inside the bell, so it made not the slightest sound as she walked.

Those feet paced back and forth beside the bed.

The soft rustle of fabric sounded.

An elaborate outer garment slipped to the floor, piling onto the carpet less than half a foot from the bed skirt.

Stella squeezed her eyes shut.

She didn’t dare look, didn’t dare move, didn’t dare breathe.

Then came the muffled sound of the mattress sinking beneath someone’s weight.

Someone had lain down.

The bed curtains swayed gently.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Five minutes.

Stella heard the breathing gradually become slow and even.

The sleep-loving young lady of the Belphegor family seemed to have fallen asleep.

Stella waited a little longer. Only after confirming that there was no movement did she dare quietly open her eyes.

She let out a breath.

It should be about time. The drowsy Miss Belphegor seemed to have entered a deep sleep. Now all Stella had to do was quietly crawl out, return to the mirror, or simply slip out through the window, and everything would be fine.

‘Remedios really did nothing but cause trouble for me!’

Stella shifted her body, alternating her elbows as she crawled forward bit by bit toward the edge of the bed.

Her fingers touched the edge of the black velvet bed skirt, then lifted it.

Stella poked her head out and raised her gaze.

A face was hanging upside down over the edge of the bed.

Long, pale-pink hair spilled down onto the carpet like a waterfall, its tips almost brushing Stella’s nose. A pair of equally pale-pink eyes stared directly into hers through the curtain of hanging hair.

There was no sleepiness in them.

It was Franleya Belphegor…

Their eyes met.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Then Franleya reached out and casually gave a tug, effortlessly pulling Stella out from under the bed.

Stella looked up and found that Franleya had already sat upright, one hand braced against the edge of the bed as she looked down at her.

Her long pale-pink hair lay messily across her shoulders, and one strap of her silk nightgown had slipped down, exposing her fair collarbone.

Her eyes were half-lidded, as though she were looking at some small animal that had wandered in by mistake.

For a moment, Stella had no idea what she was supposed to say.

Just passing through?

Got lost?

Walked into the wrong room?

No matter which excuse she used, being found beneath another Elector’s daughter’s bed was utterly absurd.

“Valentine,” Franleya broke the silence between them, speaking casually. “I recognize you.”

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Her voice carried the languor of someone who had just awakened, light and airy like a feather suspended in midair.

“…You recognize me?” Stella murmured.

Well, that made sense.

As the hottest rising star in the middle layer of the Abyss lately, and the Valentine family’s newly confirmed legitimate heir, it was perfectly normal for the heir of another Elector family to recognize her.

But precisely because she had been recognized, things were even worse!

The daughter of one Elector had been discovered hiding under the bed of another Elector’s daughter.

Stella regretted her decision from earlier more than words could express.

Why had she crawled under the bed?

She could clearly have hidden in the wardrobe.

She could clearly have jumped out the window and escaped.

She could clearly have…

‘No, this was all Remedios’ fault!’

If it weren’t for Remedios, how could she possibly have ended up in this situation?

Once she got back, she was definitely going to settle accounts with Remedios.

If she could still get back, that was.

“Not long ago, I was wondering when I’d get to meet the Valentine heir who’s been making such a name for herself.”

Franleya shifted into another position and crossed her legs. Beneath the hem of her skirt, her fair ankle was revealed, adorned with a sleep-soothing bell.

“But I never imagined it would be under my bed,” Franleya said unhurriedly. “What an unexpected surprise.”

Franleya reached out, hooked a finger around a lock of Stella’s silver-and-crimson hair, and idly twirled it.

“A boring journey, a boring meeting, a boring Abyss Supremacy Tournament,” she murmured. “To me, none of them are as worthwhile as getting a good night’s sleep.”

Franleya released the lock of hair and lowered her eyes to Stella.

“But now, something interesting has finally happened.”

“Wait, I can explain…”

Stella raised a hand to interrupt her.

“Hm?”

“I wasn’t deliberately hiding under your bed!” Stella spoke at lightning speed. “I used a flawed teleportation spell, and the destination shifted. I have absolutely no intention of attacking you or the Belphegor family, so…”

Franleya raised a hand and pressed one finger against her own lips.

“Shh.”

Stella’s voice abruptly stopped.

“Valentine,” Franleya said softly. “I don’t care how you appeared here.”

Stella froze.

‘She didn’t care?’

“But…”

Franleya pursed her lips into a smile, her expression like a cat toying with a mouse it had no intention of eating.

“You wouldn’t want me to tell the Nightmare Maintainers outside about this, would you?”

“…”

Stella suddenly felt scared.

“Or…” Franleya deliberately drew out the word. “Tell your Family Head?”

Stella fell completely silent.

If Franleya told Vivian…

How would Vivian react?

Shock?

Speechlessness?

Or would she think Stella truly was worthy of being her daughter, with a style reminiscent of herself in her younger days?

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No, that wasn’t the point. No matter what Vivian thought, if this reached Gehenna’s ears, there would be a serious problem.

Gehenna had only just warned her not to come to Nightmare Street. Yet not only had she come here, she had even entered Miss Belphegor’s room, hidden under her bed, and then been caught red-handed.

Stella’s head hurt.

She had clearly forgotten to pray to the Lord before leaving today.

“Since you don’t want this getting out,” Franleya said leisurely, “then behave yourself and play a game with me.”

‘A game?’

‘Just… play a game?’

Stella slowly let out a breath of relief.

‘It is only a game. What could possibly go wrong?’

Anything was better than having this exposed.

“…Alright.” Stella nodded. “I’ll cooperate.”

Franleya’s lips curved in satisfaction.

“We Belphegors, the nightmare clan, hold dominion over sloth and dreams in the Abyss.”

She spread her hands, wisps of pale-pink mist spilling from her palms.

The mist spread through the room and blended with the incense.

“We can shape the supreme paradise everyone prays for, and we can also create the deepest and most terrifying fantasies.”

The mist coiled around Stella’s wrist.

“And since you’ve come to Cloudtop Manor, you are our guest.” Franleya’s voice seemed to come from somewhere very far away. “As the young lady of Belphegor, naturally I should entertain you properly.”

The pale-pink mist grew thicker and thicker, obscuring the light of the obsidian chandelier.

“Besides, I’m also very curious.” Franleya bent down and cupped Stella’s cheeks in both hands. “As Vivian Valentine’s legitimate heir, what does your heart desire most? What does it fear most?”

“Give them to me, and I’ll let you leave.”

Franleya found this incredibly interesting.

She had met far too many so-called heirs of the Electors.

She had met Cheryl Valentine, whose head was filled with nothing but battle and glory. Boring beyond belief.

She had also met the so-called geniuses of the other families. Every single one of them carried themselves with airs, terrified that someone might somehow fail to realize just how impressive they were.

Now everyone knew that Valentine had gained another daughter named Stella Valentine.

Yet no one had ever actually seen her.

But now that Franleya had met Stella…

She seemed somewhat different from the others.

After all, an heir who would crawl under her bed was far too interesting.

Even more interesting was that, despite being a succubus, she actually felt ashamed over something like this.

Succubi were more or less supposed to be shameless. Otherwise, how were they supposed to tempt people down into the Abyss?

Franleya suddenly understood a little why Vivian Valentine, a woman notorious for being promiscuous and cold-hearted, treated this one illegitimate daughter so differently.

Perhaps it wasn’t because of her bloodline.

Nor because of her power.

It was because of… the person herself.

Franleya found Stella Valentine extremely interesting, and it awakened the instincts of a hunter within her.

“So…” Franleya said softly. “Come sleep with me, Stella Valentine.”

Let me see.

What is hidden in the deepest part of your heart?

Ambition?

Fear?

Or something even you don’t know about?